FCK Ceramic Workshop 3/17/24
French Ceramist, Artist, and Designer, Fck Frédérick Gautier, Artist in residence at Tom of Finland Invites participants to create everyday ceramic objects in tandem with his upcoming installation 'Tools to Eat' - infused with erotic themes and inspired by the artistic vision of the Tom of Finland universe.
No prior ceramics skills are required for this class. FCK will guide participants through the process, providing a 30-minute introduction to cover the basics. Classes will include all materials. Firing and glazing will be handled post-workshop with the assistance of the Tom of Finland / VENIA teams. Items created at the workshop will be featured at the official Tom of Finland Artist in Residence art show this April with participant consent.
Dates: March 17th
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: VENIA Studio
Ticket: $80
More About FCK / Frédérick Gautier
His artistic work, with a brutalist aesthetic, has previously explored architectural eroticism, investigating how sexuality is expressed in functionalist architecture. The micro-architectures always remain functional, initiating an implicit dialogue, especially through the concrete moveable wall that partition spaces while evoking an erotic tension through the voyeurism they generate.
Adopting his brutalist aesthetic, FCK / Frédérick Gautier ceramic artist ventures into the field of sculpture and erotic photography, defying the standards of perfection and aiming to dissolve conventional boundaries. This project explores the complex boundaries between what is considered provocative, voyeurism, and art.
Throughout his encounters, men dressed as they are, will take hold of his ceramic pieces to stage themselves, turning them into props for a sensual game. Nonchalant postures, frugal scenes, and athletic poses will stand out in the series of photographs developed during the residency. The subjects enjoy the contradictions that these erotic and functional objects provoke, concealing areas of the body that they replicate in their reliefs. The structure of the body's positions are transposed into these pieces that serve both for sustenance and to bring the body closer to its own image. The photography of FCK fully connects the action and fantasies that connect the subject to the photographed object, to the point of nearly blending them together.
FCK has a prolific production and a nearly fetishistic relationship with the forms he creates. His creations are resolutely simple; they are containers. They aim not solely for ornamentation, but that are simultaneously functional, imposing, sturdy, and easy to handle. The objects are created to interact seamlessly with the human touch, leathers, and fibers. They are tools for nourishment but also reveal these fantasies, embodying an exploration of eroticism.